Librarians Supporting Our Heroes – How Collaboration Has Impacted Outreach
Coauthored by Dr. Bianca Brillant, Nancy Clark, Janice Young, Jennifer Jones, and Cheryl Banick
At the 2022 MLA Conference, the authors of this article presented a poster entitled Librarians Supporting Our Heroes—Reconnecting through Resource Development, and we were happy to fulfill a request to write about the project here. Although we met through a National Forum specific to Library Services for Veterans back in 2021, our collaborations have grown. We’ve been able to share the resources created as a result of the forum with hundreds of librarians across the United States. Originally, we met to define the veteran and military-connected patrons, and their information needs. We learned from experts in the field regarding veterans becoming librarians, veteran students and their campus needs, and how public librarians support military-connected families. In the process of learning, an open repository of toolkits has been created. It is available for free to anyone who would like to recreate the programming or get ideas and create their own. Our group is comprised of veteran affairs librarians and an embedded academic medical librarian. We have been able to brainstorm ways to share the wealth of resources on the website through veteran network calls, veteran-specific publications, various newsletters, association posts, and soon a peer-reviewed published article.
It is exciting to share the news because working together has enlightened us about different libraries, broadened our networks, accelerated our scholarly outputs, and most of all, benefited our veterans, active-duty military students, and military-connected patrons. Academic medical librarians often do “silo work” in schools of practice, level of education (undergrad/graduate/professional), or service streams. Military students and veterans are many times at a loss as to the resources available to assist them to transition to civilian student life.
Creating this niche programming can be difficult for solo librarians, so having access to a focused repository of toolkits is one of the main benefits for all librarians who access them. This academic medical librarian was able to learn about a military-specific language and the importance of military traditions in the form of challenge coins and create a partnership with the main campus military and veteran center to co-create programming for all five campuses. We would never have attempted this type of outreach before attending the National Forum. The toolkits followed a template so that crucial information is presented consistently, making finding and selection easier. Being available on a user-friendly platform makes finding them more efficient. The toolkits are categorized by types of libraries, resources, programming audience, and topic. Each toolkit briefly describes the program, audience, cost, timing, duration, resources needed, tips for success, assessment ideas, partners and stakeholders, images, and who submitted the work. They’re all under the creative commons license, and you can access them for free. If you have had successful programming for this specific Veteran-centered market, you can also contribute. The process is simple, and your submission will go through a vetting process before it is added to the site.
The Libraries and Veterans National Forum website has also generously shared the recordings from the forum, a great list of resources and bibliographies, and ways to continue the conversation online through the American Library Association/Veterans Caucus Member Initiative Group. As a working group, we have continued our efforts to get the word out on this treasure trove of programs. We know that sometimes veterans, active duty military, and military- connected families are at a loss of where they can seek assistance beyond the confines of their station. As librarians, we can provide them with access to authoritative information, assist them in evaluating resources before they select a choice of action, and be supportive in creating a safe and welcoming space for them to come enjoy. We invite you to explore the site and choose a program to help our veterans, active duty military, and military-connected families today!
Dr. Deidre Rios is the Director of Optometric & Clinical Library Services at University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX. (Email: dmrios1@uiwtx.edu).
Dr. Bianca Brillant is the Medical Librarian at St. Cloud VA Health Care System, St. Cloud, MN. (Email: bianca.brillant@va.gov).
Nancy Clark is the Director, Library Network Office at Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington DC. (Email: nancy.clark@va.gov).
Janice Young is the Director, VA Central Office Library at Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington DC. (Email: janice.young@va.gov).
Jennifer Jones is the Medical Librarian at the Fargo VA Health Care System, Fargo, ND. (Email: jennifer.jones12@va.gov).
Cheryl Banick is the Chief Library Service at VA Providence Health Care System. (Email: cheryl.banick@va.gov).